Archive: January 18, 2014

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Saturday,  01/18/14  12:14 PM

Catching up ... whew, what a wild week.  Did you catch the fool moon?

Can I just say, of all the crapping things about Windows ... and there are many ... the crappiest from a user interface standpoint is the way the icons on your desktop don't stay put.  Now why is that?  Surely this could be fixed, right? 

It has been suggested that IOS 7 is a little like Windows 8.  Yep.

So ... Google have bought Nest.  As a recent Nest customer I'm delighted with the thermostat and scared by this acquisition.  Scanning the net I see that I'm not alone; Google have long since ceased to be associated with their professed "don't be evil" credo.  I understand the need for companies like Nest to seek exits, and understand the desire of companies like Google to seek companies like Nest, but it isn't great for the end customers.  I wish the market could work differently and companies like Nest could stay independent forever. 

I keep thinking ... if you're not the customer, then you're the product.  Of course I did pay for my Nest.  But perhaps the model will change, they'll give Nests away in exchange for knowing what you're doing at home?  Scary...


So, the Bitcoin mining race heats up.  As well it might.  Seems like more people are interested in Bitcoin as a potential investment right now than as a medium of exchange.  Until that changes it will continue to be more like gold than dollars. 

Rolling Stone fawns over Jerry Brown's tough-love California miracle.  "I just want to get shit done."  I'm not a big fan of Californian government and we're not out of the woods yet, but I have to admit things are much better than they were two years ago. 

Meanwhile: $90M in maintenance per year, for the healthcare.gov website.  Now that's a contact I'd like to have, I believe I could do it for half of that :) 

Are curved TVs a gimmick?  Is that even a question?  Who wakes up and says "gee, I wanted a curved TV?"  Maybe curving the screen improves the picture or makes 3D possible or in some other way makes the TV better, but having a curved screen in and of itself is useless.  (Unless you have a curved wall?) 


Finally, you don't need to know anything about figure skating to think this performance is amazing.  I fully agree.  I love it when athletes perform, instead of merely execute.  Go Jason Brown. 

Okay one more: Here we have atomic soap.  Excellent. 

Isn't it weird how this picture seems slanted a bit?  I assure you it isn't, but it sure looks that way...

 

 

Abraham

Saturday,  01/18/14  12:17 PM

 

Pretty cool ... seen on the wall at one of my partners' offices ...

(The amazing thing is that now that you know this, you like him better, right?)

 

 

bridging the gap

Saturday,  01/18/14  01:59 PM

So ... I've been following this whole bikini bridge thing with great interest :) and I don't understand why it's a "hoax", do you?  (In case you've been living in the Far North for a while, a bikini bridge is the gap between a flat stomach and a bikini bottom.)  So what's the hoax?  It is most definitely true that most guys like fit, slender, women, and I doubt that this "hoax" has any affect on that one way or another. 

People are apparently concerned that a campaign glorifying slender women will "do lasting damage by giving people with eating disorders a dangerous new goal to obsess over."  Well, possibly.  To me the pictures labeled "bikini bridge" are healthy, fit women.  And they are undeniably attractive, whether we pick a term for their fitness or not.

I'm a little tired of the way we bend over backward to defend people who are out of shape.  Let's face it, being fit isn't like being tall or short, or being dark or light, or having long hair, or wearing a beard.  Being more fit is ... more attractive than not being fit, at least to most people.  To me there isn't anything "fake" or wrong with celebrating fitness.

 

 

2013 in review

Saturday,  01/18/14  03:04 PM

I must have a lot to do this year, because poof! here it is January 18th already and I haven't made time for a year in review post.  So.  Here it is... 

For a lot of the year I posted solely to Facebook, and they have a great 2013 in review page.  Nice to see all that...  the pictures they picked for the page header are great choices; visiting Tuscany, seeing the Stones with Alex, visiting Ireland, and ... me, driving!


2013 revisited:

Onward!

 
 

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